WBAA Studio Remodel The 2001 studio remodel for WBAA-AM and WBAA-FM at Purdue University was one of my proudest accomplishments. Being an NPR affiliate as well as Indiana’s oldest continuously operating radio station meant there was a lot of history here. Working together with Russ Berger Design Group as the acoustic consultants, we achieved an extremely functional design with a lot of character and class.Serving as design engineer for all the electronic systems as well as project manager for installations presented some interesting design challanges to overcome. While I had an installtion crew that worked for me at the University, this time I got in there side by side with them to make sure everything was done to my high standards.The result was a facility that rivaled that of much larger markets and one the University could be proud of.Below are some photos of the project from the beginning demolition to the finished studios. To the right is an article featuring the design in a popular trade publication. |
![]() Jul 1 2001Radio Magazine has a regular feature exibiting the best broadcast studios in the country. The studio facility I helped design alongside Russ Berger Design Group was chosen and featured in this article. (PDF) read it… (Web) Read it… |
Rendering and Fly-through Very early in the process I took the plans developed in conjunction with Russ Berger Design Group and rendered them in 3D. Finishes had not been selected at the time of this rendering, therefore the finishes and furniture in this rendering were developed to accentuate the characteristics of the rendering.VIEW THE FLYTHROUGH! |
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Photo Gallery
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![]() One of the main challenges of this project was the fact that the studios were being built directly below the main floor of a 6025 seat theater commonly used for concerts and other convocations. |
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![]() of the Technical operations center recessed floor. |
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![]() between the studios and the technical operations center. |
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![]() gets installed over the slab. |
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![]() Mager Systems, a broadcast furniture designer and manufacturer located in Pheonix, Arizona. |
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![]() Assembles the furniture. |
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Turntables with digital output were requiredfor Sunday Jazz programming.
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![]() in the “voice” studio. |
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2013 Note: As I look back on this project, I am amazed how far the industry has come technologically since then. Today, I would never run that much conduit in the floor because by using advanced Audio over IP technologies available from several manufacturers, I can handle an entire studio with only a hand-full of cat6 cables. Also, punch blocks are no longer required if a facility is built from the ground up using these newer technologies. However this was a very state of the art all-digital facility back in 2001 when an all digital studio was a rarity in the industry. |